Annemariek Meijer

Dear members,
With a wind-chill factor of minus 12 at the time of writing but with spring just round the corner you may like reading this famous poem by William Wordsworth (1770-1850) who was one of the most important nature poets during the Romantic Period.

Dear members,
The Committee of British Society Deventer would like to wish you a Happy New Year!
We hope to present you with many interesting talks and events in the coming year.
After Christine Robinson’s talk on 21 January 2018 we would like to inform you now about two events coming up in February and March………….

On Saturday 2 September 2017 the Anglican Church will be organizing the annual Castle Fair at Weldam Castle, the proceeds of which will go to Church projects of St. Mary’s Anglican Church. There will be a lot of activities such as a fencing demonstration, Morris dancers and bagpipers. You will find stalls with quilts, bookbinding, spinning, ceramics, not to forget the home-made pies, ice creams, jams and cakes. There will also be guided walks through the beautiful gardens and the lovely chapel of St Mary’s Church nearby can also be visited.

Welcome to a new season with British Society Deventer. The Committee hopes this year’s programme with talks, films and events will be to your liking. We will be starting off with our Annual General Meeting and Quiz on Sunday afternoon 1 October 2017 at 3 pm during which matters concerning our Society will be discussed. Venue is De Schalm.

Bob Ollis is an expert in ceramics and Chinese antiquities . After a professional career in the British Army having served in various countries, the lure of the history of the Eastern Mediterranian prompted an interest in the silk road and cultures further east. China soon became the subject of study and, after obtaining a solid base in ancient Chinese cultures, founded an antique company specialising in items from the Neolithic period (3000 BC) to the Ming dynasty (1368 – 1644 AD).

After a short period, the business was joined by Anne-Marie Oostermeijer who herself dealt in Chinese furniture, and Ollis and Oostermeijer Chinese Antiquities was born. We have shown at various European Antique fairs for more than 20 years and, continue to provide items of quality to collectors and institutions but, also continue to update, on a daily basis, our knowledge of one of the worlds most fascinating cultures.

Considered to be the most important discovery of the last 25 years, the Yangling Mausoleum is the joint tomb of the Western Han Dynasty Emperor JingDi (Liuqi) and his Empress, Wang.

This short account is intended to highlight the importance of this discovery and of its significance in MINGQI. Most people are aware of the terracotta army of the First Emperor, Qin. Whilst digging for water in 1974, peasant farmers near Xian stumbled across what was to become the most famous discovery in Chinese history.

About 1 km from the mausoleum pits were disovered, containing life-size, terracotta statues of soldiers. Subsequent excavation revealed a complete army of about 6,000 in battle formation and accompanied by horses and chariots. This was the army that was to accompany Qin in the afterlife.

Now a National treasure, the excavated pits and reconstructed statues can be viewed by the public. Excavations are still continuing at the site and it is expected that further discoveries are imminent.

When Qin died in 206 BC the Imperial Han dynasty was born. The Han were only too aware of the existence of the army as it took over 25 years to complete and required thousands of workmen and vast amounts of materials to construct. They continued the practice of burying terracotta statues in underground chambers for use in the afterlife but never on such a grand scale as Qin’s army.

The first three Han Emperors were known to have had lavish burials with all that they could need in the next life but it was fourth Emperor, JingDi, who died in 141 BC, who attempted to emulate Qin and his vast, subterranean army.

Christine Robinson, who spoke to us twice before, entered service at Chatsworth in 1974. Nestling in the heart of the beautiful Peak District and home of the Cavendish family and the Dukes of Devonshire for nearly 500 years, Chatsworth House is perhaps one of Britain’s greatest stately homes. Christine Robinson spent three summer vacations working at Chatsworth whilst a student of history at Newcastle upon Tyne University, and on her graduation in 1977 she began working full-time with the Chatsworth team. Intending only to stay for one year, she, like many others before and since, fell under Chatsworth’s spell and she retired as Head Housekeeper in 2015 after 38 years’ service. She still lives in the Estate village of Edensor in the heart of Chatsworth’s vibrant community.

In 2014 Christine published her memoirs, Chatsworth: The Housekeeper’s Tale, and following the success of this book, she was prompted to write a second book – Chatsworth: The Housekeeper’s Tips, Tales and Tipples (2017).

Her talk by the same title is an illustrated PowerPoint talk taking a light-hearted tour of Chatsworth, exploring the history of everyday objects in all our homes, and revealing more of Chatsworth’s hidden stories from her 40 years’ experience of working at one of the best-loved houses in England.

Christine is still involved with life at Chatsworth, volunteering for special events and giving talks at Chatsworth from time to time, and she also enjoys delivering talks about Chatsworth and the Chatsworth Estate to a variety of groups of all sizes, from 20 to 900, both locally and further afield, including successful lecture tours of the Netherlands and Switzerland.

Chris Allen is a senior guide at St Paul’s Cathedral with responsibility for one of the 9 teams of volunteers and guides who greet and assist visitors to the cathedral. He is also one of the teachers who train new guides and is the editor and co-writer of the cathedral’s Guide Training Handbook. Chris is a London University graduate in Economics and Politics who worked for Hoechst, a German Chemical Company, for over thirty years becoming the Chairman and Managing Director of one of their IT subsidiary companies, HiServ UK . He retired in 2001 and soon after became involved in St Paul’s Cathedral as a working volunteer. In addition to his guiding responsibilities he is Assistant Secretary of the Cathedral Wandsmen, a group of sixty men and women who act as Ushers for the Sunday services as well as for the many ceremonial and special services. Active in the City of London, where he is a Freeman of the City, he is a Liveryman and a member of the Court of the Worshipful Company of Tobacco Pipemakers, a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Bakers and immediate past Chairman of the Queenhithe Ward Club, one of the twenty four ward clubs of the City.

The City of London is unique in the UK in having a separate governance structure dating back over 800 years. It has its own Lord Mayor elected each year by the Liverymen of the City who meet in the ancient Guildhall in the heart of the city on midsummer day to choose the candidates.

There are over 100 Livery Companies ancient and modern representing trades old and new and some representing trades which no longer exist. They all support charitable causes raising over £45 million last year.

There are two Sheriffs also elected by the Liverymen whose office is more ancient than the Lord Mayor’s. They support the Lord Mayor in his year of office and live in the Old Bailey which is the central criminal court, where they look after the Judges.

Lois McGill is a retired higher education lecturer in I.T. with a keen interest in history and the theatre. Since retirement, she volunteers as a guide at Eyam Hall, the village being better known as the Plague Village whose inhabitants chose to isolate themselves in the 17th century, so stopping the spread of the plague but at a great cost to themselves. She also helps at the beautifully restored Victorian Buxton Opera House. She is a keen walker and has walked many of the UK’s long distance paths and belongs to a local dance team keeping alive the clog dancing and Appalachian dancing traditions.

The small village of Eyam nestles in the Derbyshire hills and you need to make a detour to get there as it is not on the road to anywhere else, but in the 17th century it was a bustling village with 12 pubs and village green stocks to keep the rowdiness of the local lead-miners in check.

Then in September 1665 the plague arrived. A bundle of cloth from London, where the plague had already killed 25,000, arrived at the cottage of George Vicars. Within a week several of the family were dead. More died that Autumn and then the numbers lessened over the winter to begin again with a vengeance the next Spring. The Vicar, William Mompesson, came up with a plan. He persuaded the villagers to quarantine themselves – this they did for a year at a great cost – about 300 villagers died. It did halt the spread of the disease in the area. The tales of grief and sacrifice, but also greed and shame are many.

Living in Eyam at the time of the plague was one Thomas Wright, a wealthy landowner and 5 years after the plague he bought a dwelling and farmland from a Thomas Brae. He rebuilt the house in the Jacobean style and gave it to his son, John, as a wedding present on his marriage to Elizabeth Kniveton (much more to say of this lady). The house has remained in the Wright family for 12 generations and still belongs to them; the National Trust just look after it and open it to the public.

It is the stories of these 12 generations which tell the story of England through four centuries. The Wrights began as wealthy lead mine owners, then military men then in the 19th and 20th century became middle class professionals – doctors, lawyers, farmers and vicars.

The house has barely altered – the last major change was in 1700 when the kitchen was changed to a dining room (previously the main hall was more medieval in usage and multi-purpose – everyone from the lowest to the highest dining together) and the kitchen wing added. Since then a corridor was put in upstairs, (in 1672 corridors would have been considered a waste of space); privacy was not an issue and minor cosmetic changes have occurred but Elizabeth, the first lady of the house, would still recognise it today.